Echoed footsteps splashed through puddles of rainwater flowing furiously through the streets. The girl quickly turned to look behind her for signs of her relentless pursuer. He was nowhere to be seen. She knew better than to trust this though. He’d always been a phantom.

    She turned back around in time for her foot to grab the curb and turn her over onto the ground. She winced with pain as she tried to stand and regain her balance. The world had become a blurred landscape of mysteriously bright and startling colors.         She took a deep breath and tried to remember what to do.

With a decided huff, she picked up speed once again. He’d been chasing her all day; her body was screaming for relief. Her lungs pumped air in and out like a factory machine, but the machine needed to be oiled soon, or it was going to spiral out of control.
    She saw an alleyway up ahead, but knew better than to turn down it. She knew better than to allow herself to become surrounded by nothing but ominous walls and buildings, all of them serving as a cage to silence the pretty bird.
    She continued to run; her head was a churning whirlwind of pain. She was being starved of oxygen due to running so fast. Finally, she fell once again, only this time from raw exhaustion. She let out a maniacal laugh as she stared at the streetlamps above her. There was no escape. She failed.
    She could sense him approaching. He was no ordinary creature. He was a shadow, her shadow. She waited patiently. Her heart drummed along at a steady, rapid beat. It’s back to the cage again. She knew she would escape again, but not for a while. Each and every time she had tried to escape them, she’d failed. This time was no different.
    She felt his formless arms scoop her up, and she disappeared into a void. When she woke once more, she found herself staring into her shadow’s eyes. Blank, yellow orbs surveyed her curiously.
   “Do you think she’ll ever get better?” a voice whispered sadly. 
   “I don’t know. These hallucinations she keeps having are rather severe. Not even the medicine has helped her. I don’t know what we can do for her,” another voice replied.
   The girl smiled wildly. If only they could see him—her shadow. He was prowling about her room and grinning at her. He took many forms, but none of them had any clear shape or definition.
   He taunted her with torturous illusions of escape, and none of them were ever true.
   “One day they will be,” he had always promised.
   The girl smiled and fell asleep. Her shadow resumed his place at her side and filled her dreams with sorrow.